Kawaiisu

The Kawaiisu language was traditionally spoken in the southern Sierra Nevada, in the Tehachapi and Piute Mountains. In pre-contact times, there may have been 500 speakers of Kawaiisu (Kroeber 1925). Today, there are fewer than a dozen speakers (Golla 2011).

Kawaiisu is a member of the Numic branch of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Within Numic, it is most closely related to Chemehuevi-Southern Paiute-Ute, spoken in southeastern California and throughout Nevada, Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. More distantly, it is related to Panamint, Shoshone (spoken throughout Nevada, Idaho, Utah, and Wyoming), Comanche (spoken mainly in Oklahoma, Texas, and Arizona), Mono, and Northern Paiute. The other Uto-Aztecan languages of California are Tubatulabal and the Takic languages (Cahuilla, Cupeño, Gabrielino, Juaneño, Kitanemuk, Luiseño, Serrano, and Tataviam).